Monday, August 31, 2009

Throughout his presidential campaign, Obama kept saying he was going to bring "Hope and Change." What Obama wasn't expecting was that the majority of Americans did not want the change that he had in mind. He forgot that we are in a recession, not a depression. Just about every American wants things to be just the way they were before the 2008 primaries: no failing housing markets, no unemployment, no fatigue from the Iraq War--just a nice, simple life with a relatively small amount of problems. But then the market came along and caused what has been dubbed the worst recession (again, I have to keep emphasizing that this is not a depression) this century. Obama took advantage of the situation. It wasn't so much that he was an excellent, experienced candidate (because he wasn't), but rather because all the blame was on the Republicans for this mess, and no Republican candidate, no matter how smooth they were, could win the right amount of electoral votes.

Obama is unfortunately under the delusion that the American people voted for him because his ideas of wealth distribution and governmental intervention were something the American people wanted. In attempts to pass the stimulus bill earlier this year, he used scare tactics, saying that "if we don't pass this, we'll be in a recession for longer than anyone can imagine." Feeling the pangs of the recession, the people yielded a bulk of their skepticism in hopes that throwing money at random projects, such as food stamps, Amtrak, $50 million to the NEA, would ease the economic woes of America. Although the Dow has had an overall upward trend lately, it's prudent to note that approximately 1% of the stimulus plan has actually be actualized. So much for giving Obama credit for saving the economy!

What Obama needs to realize is that the gloom-and-doom statement of "the sky's going to fall if we don't pass this massive spending program" only works once. Last time I checked, the American people voted for hope, and of course, change. Plus, the only reason why he is able to even put this at the front of the agenda in the first place is because unemployment is high, and many Americans have their health care provided by their insurer, meaning that once the recession lets up, nationalizing health care will be a non-issue. But getting off that slight tangent, using the same tactics in attempts to pass the health care bill will not fly. How do I know this? Take a look at the polls, and you'll see that Obama is floundering as he holds onto his health care proposal for dear life. Just looking at a few results from recent Rasmussen polls:

74% of Americans deem their health care quality either good or excellent.

Only 42% of Americans approve of ObamaCare.

As of today, Obama's overall presidential rating is at 46%.

For someone to start off at a 65% approval rating at the beginning of his term, this is fall is starting to approach Humpty Dumpty levels, especially if Obama keeps on pushing for the bill to pass. The reason for this failure is because it is coming with much opposition. It's not enough for Obama to go against the bi-partisan spirit of the late Senator Kennedy. He's also managed to even merit opposition from the Blue Dog Coalition. Now, if your own party isn't even behind you on what can easily be considered the most self-defining moment for your first year in office, that doesn't say much about your policies, now does it?

It's not just Congress that Obama has to worry about. It's the American people, as well. Seniors are afraid of a big cut in their Medicare. The pro-life movement, which, until the proposition of this bill, has been relatively dormant. With a provision that will case the largest amount of governmental say in providing abortion since Roe v. Wade, Obama has given yet another constituency the right to be totally P.O.'ed at him. Then there are small business owners that don't provide health insurance for their employees. The last thing they want is the proposed 8% payroll tax on top of the 15% payroll tax they already pay now! Then there's that not-as-silent-as-they-used-to-be majority that just don't want their taxes to go up because of the inherent costs in nationalized health care. Oh, and a majority are happy with the quality of health care they receive. They just want some cost-cutting methods to take place [something which evidently wouldn't happen with ObamaCare].

If you want to go down in the history books as a great president, Mr. Obama, here's my advice to you: lay off the nationalized health care, or the bit of change I can guarantee you is that a lot of your fellow Democrats in Congress will be looking for new jobs as of November 2010.

As of today, I have decided to take up the pastime of blogging. Aside from the need of a good venue to rant and kvetch, I realized that having gotten my B.A. in Spanish, East Asian Studies, and most notably, Government, I figured this would be a good exercise to keep up with world events, my analytical skills intact, and create an opportunity to learn.

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